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About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo... (More)

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community. (Hide)

Coming soon: Borrone Marketbar

Uploaded: Jan 16, 2014

The Borrone family local restaurant empire is about to get a little bigger  but not much farther flung  with its latest expansion, The Borrone Marketbar, slated to open next door to Café Borrone early this year.

A website for the more casual sibling restaurant to Menlo Park's favorite café is up and running in anticipation of an "early 2014" opening. The owners could not be immediately reached for comment, but stay tuned for updates here.

Below a nice iPhone panorama photo of the space-in-progress is a description from co-owners Marina Borrone and chef Josh Pebbles about what MarketBar is all about:

"The 'Market' will feature a rotisserie, house-made focaccia, full family meals, fresh pasta and pastries for our guests to take to their favorite table. The 'Bar Eatery' side is a casual space where you can enjoy a classic Italian cocktail, an oyster, a bowl of ravioli, or savory meats while soaking in the atmosphere: a little of the old world mixed with a dash of the new.

"Our menus are designed to be small, and by nature they change consistently. When working with organic, sustainable food, quality wins over quantity and convenience. The menu will always be reflective of the current condition of the dirt, the weather, the animals, the season of harvest and even the chance of an occasional coyote attack that might enjoy Josh's turkeys before he has the chance to prepare them."

It was reported about this time last year that Borrone and Pebbles would take over the space vacated by Italian restaurant Cedro Ristorante.

Posted by Jay Park,
a resident of Jackson Park,
on Jan 17, 2014 at 7:29 am

@Norman:

Well, considering that the food trucks are only there once a week, I think Menlo Park can accommodate both.

People go to food trucks for different reasons than sit-down restaurants. Food trucks have more of a street food carnival atmosphere. whereas sit-down restaurants offer a more relaxed hospitality environment.

You should try both out someday, and maybe you'll notice additional differences in terms of service, price, food variety, climate, and more.

Posted by Jay Park,
a resident of Jackson Park,
on Jan 17, 2014 at 7:37 am

It's also worth noting that Borrone MarketPlace will occupy an existing restaurant property. And it's not like once-a-week food trucks drove Cedro out of business.

People's dining habits have changed over the past twenty years as well as the demographics. It's a little naive to think that the restaurant marketplace would stay stagnant yet solvent all those years. The F&B industry adapts to the ever-changing whims of the dining populace.

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